Apple patents reveal redesigned iPhone

With critics bemoaning Apple’s lack of innovation, and iPhone sales flagging, the tech giant is under increasing pressure to give its flagship device a radical overhaul. Newly filed patents hint at what’s to come


FUTURE IPHONE (probably several years away)

Screen: Thin, flexible OLED display wraps around iPhone – front to back

Controls: Buttons for controls such as volume replaced by touch inputs on curved edge of display

Glass: Manufactured synthetic sapphire for scratch-free enclosure

Battery: Biggest issue with design, but OLED screens consume far less power than current LED displays


EXAMPLE USES OF DISPLAY

ebooks: Start reading on one side, then flip iPhone over to “turn page” and read other side

Gaming: Controls on rear effectively turn iPhone into gaming controller

Global gaming revenue, 2018 $137.9bn
Mobile: $70.3bn (51%)


2019 iPhone: Rumoured to incorporate Sony’s long distance Time of Flight (ToF) technology, enabling triple-lens rear camera to build detailed 3D maps of anything within five metres, enabling major improvements to augmented reality games and face-scanning security measures


Sources: Inverse, T3, Patently Apple, Qualcomm, Forbes, Apple 
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